Flower Architecture: The Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum
A gigantic chrysanthemum plant was trained over 18 months to grow into a unique form.
One of the highlights of this year’s Chrysanthemum Festival at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania is a dome-shaped plant that measures over 11 feet in diameter and contains 991 blooms in it. The aptly named Thousand Bloom Chrysanthemum was developed by Horticulturalist Yoko Arakawa using an old Japanese plant growing technique called Ozukuri.
The Thousand Bloom took 18 months of careful watering, pinching and tying of the plant to a custom made wire frame that ‘trained’ the chrysanthemum in growing into the desired form, with hundreds of perfectly placed blooms.
Here’s a video about this gigantic plant which now holds the distinction of being the largest chrysanthemum in North America: